Rick got into a lofting incident which prompted him to really advocate the safety aspects of kiting. He does a lot just for the good of the sport (i.e. no money) and I think Florida has so many rules because of populated beaches and kitemares which have happened at various locations.

RE: towing, I have done this in paragliding and it can be quite dangerous if you don't know what you're doing! I've done it with a harness with 20cm back protection and a reserve parachute which won't work unless I'm at least 500 feet up. Paragliders are made to support the g-forces and such in the air. I don't think kitesurfing kites are! What if you hit a thermal and half your kite collapses while the other is still in the rising air? There is much to consider! To each his own but be careful. If you do something silly and get yourself hurt or killed your actions could possibly affect kitesurfers all over the world negatively.

I can't answer for Rick. But I can answer that when we kitesurfers were being "looked at " at Hugenot park in Jacksonville, I made more than a few phone calls and emails. Rick was right there giving me guidance and support. so yes the FKA has helped to beat down at least one kiteboarding ban. And as for the dues; my understanding is that the dues are for the AKA and the AKA provides the insurance. i personally am not a dues paying member and I really don't remember why not. But I too would be interested in how Rick makes his living same as you. What do you do to bring home the bacon? I am curious as to what all kitesurfers do for a living. Kind of like what "type" person is a kitesurfer. Some kitesurfers i know include a landscaper, a student, a railroad tycoon, a fireman, a headhunter, a cabinet maker, a doctor (2), KITESTORE OWNERS (2) and then I am a lowly civil servant! And yess I write this stuff at work and yes it pi..my boss off!

I heard he was a multi-millionaire living on a 120' yacht somwhere near south beach. Made millions from smart stock investments in Womens Lingere. Now donates his time and money to the safer sport of Kitesurfing. He probably didn't answer because he is between Florida and Cuba Kitesurfing and checking out a new line of Lingere for durability before investing. Who cares what he does......?????????!!!!!!!!!

nice to know how you feel of me royce. yourself are one of the biggest hippocrits on this list. i once seen you give a guy a seriuosly hard time over a simple matter just so the next day you could post a topic about stopping the BS and bickering. and then you attacked another person on the very next day. bite me.

marina, thanks for your answer on ricks incident. it the most i have gotten.

arcsrule. i think their are fka membership fees and then on top of that the aka fees. i hear it's 30.00 for fka and 15.00 for aka for atotal of 45.00. with the streamer that i think is for crandon, i think you have to add anuther 10.00. add on top of that a 45.00 business fee if you are a business. and i think it's all paid annually. i seen rick say that it costs him money from his own pocket to operate. if this is true, i dont see why we cant be told where the membership money is being spent to help kiteboarding. i am not insinuating that it isnt spent wisely for the sport, but i just wantt to know how and weher. is that really that big of a deal? rick is an honest person. he has nothing to hide about the fka or its finances, so i dont see why he wont tell.

i'd love to know what he does for a living. i would like to know that about you too. i ride with doctor, lawyer, oscean liner captains, engineers, construction workers, professors, contractors, pilot, aircraft mechanic. it's just nice to know. i dont know why rick has to be so defensive when someone starts asking him questions.

looks to me like i already am not having a very big list of fans or friends on this list due to the nature of what i say and ask. i thought we were here to say and ask what we think. maybe i misunderstand the idea of the forum.

so rick. can you just skip the questions that you feel are intrusive or insinuating and just answer the ones of your choice. just a number indicating the question you are answering and an answer will do. everyone emailing you to get it is about as counter productive as having to chase down databases to learn of your incident. be a sport. participate. i mean you no wrong or wish you no bad. honestly.

If it was as simple as that, I think it was the tone of the post that came across as attacking.

Thats one of the dangerous things about this, is sometimes people don't understand the tone, and/or humour, but as I said before, unfortunately, the tone of the post came across really badly.

I have discussed safety with Rick on a number of occasions, and most of his collections of incidents come from looking at web sites, finding incidents and then verifying the source of those incidents to make sure they are correct. Thats not easy work, because getting all the information regarding an incident is often not easy.

Someone said earlier, that the problem with people is that everyone sits back, and then complains when the rules don't suit them after they chose not to be involved in the process. This is a lesson to learnt from.

Getting involved in safety is not simply chatting in your spare time on the net, its actually getting involved in club/national level and making sure that people aren't doing stupid things on the beach.

Towkiting may be safe as you do it, but there is always an idiot, who is going to try it and extend the ropes after he gets bored. The danger with challenging issues like this is that stupid people can read. I am not saying you are crazy to be doing it, because you obviously have the sense to keep the ropes short etc. but don't challenge it as non-dangerous. Plenty of people do plenty of sports which are dangerous: formula 1, base jumping, powerboating etc. All Rick was saying is avoid them unless you really have to, because they are dangerous. If you are going to do it, make sure you set aside guidelines for others doing it with do not exceed markers, because some people just do not think of the dangers involved. i.e. 15m rope (Do not exceed 20 metres), safety precautions like backup lines etc.

KC. Hypocrite sometimes, if it gets the message accross to people who post like yours. Maybee if you go back and look you will see why I posted the Crap post, becuse the guy I was ripping on was ripping on someone or something else he shouldn't have been. Nice post nice reply....I'll even go with sincere post but if its just pathetic like yours to Rick just cause your little hairs on yer kneck jump up well expect some abuse. As for towing... its called para-sailing you can do it safely for about $50.00. Ask the guy who fell while doing it. HE is a para-glider boat owner and driver. Ask him now if he is ever going to do it again. Ask him if he thinks its safe. I hate to see my friends get hurt like that. When was the last time you were in one of those situations where everything slowed down..you got a really sick feeling and your familly started to appear out of nowhere so you could say goodbye?

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